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Table of Contents
Title
Can you hear that?Broad Question
How does musical experience affect hearing?Specific Question
How does months of musical experience affect ability to hear a specific sound in a recording?Hypothesis
It is hypothesized that subjects with more musical experience will be be able to hear specified sounds from a recording better than people with less musical experience.Rationale
I think this because music physically constructs new mental structures and can create these pathways through rhythms as well as interpreting multiple symbols at the same time. Experience with music at a young age can "fine-tune" the brain's auditory system, says Nature Neuroscience. Musicians have to always adjust tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and even feeling. By doing this, it “trains the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once,” according to A User’s Guide to the Brain. I believe that this will help the subject in being able to specify and hear the correct noise like a note, while blocking out other noises in the recording. A non-musician or not as proficient musician does not have this advantage, although a study done of 59 out of 139 orchestra musicians (42%) had hearing losses greater than that expected for their ages, which can mean that aged musicians can have worse hearing.Graph of Hypothesis
Variables
Independent Variable:
Musical experience (months)Dependent Variable:
Percentage of times the sound “Door Slamming” is heard.Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
Volume level ratio to headphones, setting, computer, headphones, recording for testing, sheet or questionnaire for marking, what is said to the subject.
Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation
ratio-equality or inequality, (example: 5 bars to 3)setting-where the experiment takes place
General Plan
Potential Problems And Solutions
Computer breaks down I can get another identical one, worst case scenario, from science room. If I break the headphones I will buy new ones. Same with anything else that could happen: it breaks, a new one is sought.Safety Or Environmental Concerns
There are a couple safety concerns. A subject could have sensitive hearing and damage their ears while testing. Also, lice, germs, or bacteria could be passed through the headphones. I can prevent these problems by checking the cleanliness of the headphones and also making sure the subject does not have sensitive ears.Experimental Design
This experiment will be set up and run in Mrs. Bailey’s room and an empty room in Mountain Top Music Center. The computer will be facing towards the person running the experiment on one side of a table with a piece of paper, while the subject will face opposite on the other side of the table with a pen, and another set up piece of paper. The person testing will explain to the subject to listen for the sound of “Door Slamming” and to mark it on their paper when heard. Then they will have, if not already done, the headphones put on the subjects and let them listen to the sound “Door Slamming” played individually by playing it solo from the rest of the tracks. Next they will start the recording when the subject is ready by playing all the tracks on the document. While doing this they will mark their paper when they notice the subject misses a sound, and afterwards thank the subjects and ask on a scale to ten (1 being easy 10 being hard) it was to hear the “Door Slamming.”Resources and Budget Table
Detailed Procedure
Set Up
1.) Before starting the experiment gather materials from the materials list, have #7 Acer science room computer turned on and have the subject confirm, using a set-up piece of paper: age, how long the subject has been playing an instrument (rounded to the nearest month), and length of practice (at least one hour a week or more, which also will be written down by the subject).
2.) Sit the subject down in a plastic chair away from a selected table. (Make sure the computer is facing away from the subject in a way the subject can’t see it).
3.) Give the subject a pair of headphones (Beats Solos) and ask for the subject to put them on politely.
Make sure that the headphones are all the way turned up while the computer volume is at a designated 5 bars.
4.) Plug in the flash drive with the Audacity document 1.27.2013, open it, and click on the track that says “Door Slamming.”
Volume Test
5.) Put in play the individual track (by playing it solo) at the lowest played selected noise.
6.) Ask the subject whether or not they can hear the noise, and if they can’t, turn up the output volume level of the audacity track noise 0.1 unit (or dB) from 0.5 dB. One can find this bar in the top left of the Audacity project opened. Ask the subject again whether they can hear the sound “Door Slamming.” If they can’t hear it still, turn the output volume up by one dB, and continue until they can immediately hear the lowest sound. Record what decibel level the sound is now on.
Experiment Trial
7.) Explain to the subject every time they are to hear the noise, “Door Slamming” in the audio, they are to mark the paper they were given in the correct spot with a pen.
8.) Ask whether the subject wants to hear the noise again.
9.) If the subject is ready, go the beginning of the track and select play, which will play all the tracks at once.
10.) Have the subject listen to the audio.
11.) Every time the subject misses a “Door Slamming,” record that on a set-up piece of paper, as well as the number of it. (Say it is the fifth time the sound is played, it would be #5)
12.) At the end, ask the subject whether on a scale 1-10 (1 easy, 10 hard), how hard it was to make out the noise of “Door Slamming.”
13.) Thank the subject and record the results on GoogleDocs.
Data Table
Data Analysis
Graphs
Photos
Results
On average, the top 50% of musical experience subjects heard more based on percentage than the bottom 50%, once getting past 70% of the sounds on average heard. The results show that on average the top 50% of musical experience subjects heard more, based on percentage, than the bottom 50% of musical experience subjects. The average for bottom 50% musical experience subjects is a 66%, while the average for the top 50% musical experience subjects is a 77%.Conclusion
The experiment was designed to test whether musical experience affects a person’s ability to hear and distinguish a specified sound. The results show that on average the top 50% of musical experience subjects heard more, based on percentage, than the bottom 50% of musical experience subjects. The average for bottom 50% musical experience subjects is a 66%, while the average for the top 50% musical experience subjects is a 77%.Discussion
The experiment question was: what is the effect of musical experience on being able to hear specific sounds? Based on results gathered, it can be verified that the greater musical experience, the more a person is able to hear and distinguish a specific sound. It was hypothesized that subjects with more musical experience would be be able to hear specified sounds from a recording better than people with less musical experience.
The hypothesis was supported by the results. Though the results on the spreadsheet could not show an easily distinguished trend, results did show that on average the top 50% of musical experience subjects heard more, based on percentage, than the bottom 50% of musical experience subjects. The average for bottom 50% musical experience subjects is a 66%, while the average for the top 50% musical experience subjects is a 77%. There is not a very strong connection between months of experience and percentage, as one subject with 132 months got 100% and a subject with 504 months got a 40%. Also, only people in the top 50% of musical experience got over a 90% or over.
The results happened because people with musical experience use sections of their brain (such as the temporal lobe that identifies sound) that less experienced or non-musicians don’t use as much. All the subjects heard the specific sounds, yet results ranged from 10-100%. This is because the brain needs to process and identify the sounds, not just let the sounds wash over them without identifying them. Practice over a long period of time can build these parts of the brain and literally strengthen and develop them. Every time you make a connection (such as the color blue) in the brain, neurons connect with axons and dendrites. The more one thinks of blue, they build myelin, or fat, around the axons and dendrites. This helps the connections happen faster, and ultimately leads to a smarter person. If one practices music a lot, they keep building myelin, and the neurons make the connections faster. This is why the saying "practice makes perfect" is almost exactly true, except for the fact that there is always room for improvement.
Problems that were managed during the design of the experiment were encountered at the beginning of the trials, when the subject needed to calculate their months of musical experience. Because of this, the calculator on the Acer Computer from the Science Room was needed, and the subjects occasionally guessed their years because it would take too long to think back to when they started playing if they were, say, 50 years old. If more time was available and more subjects were gathered, it is likely that the trend (the more musical experience higher scores) would have shown more prominently on the scatterplot.
Technology that was used for this experiment was the free sound-editing program Audacity, and free sounds from the website Audio Micro, both used to create a recording. It should be known that Audacity is an easy-to-use and complete program, good for: collecting, recording, editing, and moving sounds and recordings (as well as music tracks), to make whatever you choose.
The knowledge gained through this experiment adds to more evidence that music can heal and improve the knowledge and brains of people. There are many experiments done on how music builds the knowledge and brain, not only hearing. It is likely that if more people know how much music is good for you, more children and adults will learn instruments and/or voice. Our environment because of this can be a more intelligent one: leading to a healthier and more productive school, workplace, and home. The knowledge gained from this experiment should also be used for decision makers, such as principals, when faced with a challenge. An example of an important decision could be: "Should we save money by cancelling the music program?" It shouldn't be a challenge question, though. Music helps strengthen knowledge, builds the brain, and relaxes. Getting rid of music or a music program would be getting rid of knowledge, something that schools should never do.
Background Research
During the last several years, both musicians and hearing specialists are becoming increasingly aware that both rock and classical music have the potential to produce noise-induced hearing loss. A 1981 study at Sweden's Concert Hall and Lyric Theatre in Gothenberg revealed that 59 out of 139 orchestra musicians (42%) had hearing losses greater than that expected for their ages. Other studies have found similar results.
The two major characteristics of sound are intensity and frequency. Intensity, generally perceived as loudness, is measured in decibels (dB), on a logarithmic scale. This means that 90 dB is 10 times more intense than 80 db; 100 dB is 100 times more intense than 80 dB. The sound intensity doubles for every increase of 3 dB. Small increases in decibel level can involve a large increase in actual sound intensity.
Sound Pressure Levels
Whisper 20 dB
Conversation 60 dB
Vacuum cleaner 80 dB
Orchestral music 83-92 dB
Subway 80-110 dB
Rock music band 105-111 dB
Discotheque 120 dB
Jet takeoff (300 feet distance) 140 dB
The cerebrum or cortex is the largest part of the human brain, associated with higher brain function such as thought and action. The cerebral cortex is divided into four sections, called "lobes": the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe.
Playing a musical instrument significantly enhances the brainstem's sensitivity to speech sounds. This relates to encoding skills involved with music and language. Experience with music at a young age can "fine-tune" the brains auditory system.
— Nature Neuroscience, April 2007
The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling – training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attention skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression.
— From A User’s Guide to the Brain, May 31, 2003; Ratey, John J., MD
From teachings of Julia Hendrickson and Jean Paiget
How does Music Enhance the Cognitive Function of the developing Brain?
Structure- to create the change in a brain or concept
Development- construction of new mental structures, physically
Learning-application of new structures
Pathways in brain exist, you just need to find them
Symbols- finding something like C# and thinking of it as a sound
Music can create these pathways through beats, and interpreting multiple symbols at the same time.
Biological- need pathways to understand things- take the 3 year old's and the changing size of a glass of water.
Assimilation and accomodation
Structures help assimilate to environment such as in school
Singing helped the Arizona congresswoman regain speech through engaging music and creating pathways on both sides (hemispheres) of the brain. Her nerve fibers grew through singing therapy in a matter of months.
References
Abstract
The purpose of the experiment was to see whether musical experience affects one’s ability to hear and identify a specific sound. It was hypothesized that the more musical experience a subject had the more sounds the subject would hear. The experiment was conducted by having subjects listen to a recording and marking a paper whenever they hear the noise, “Door Slamming, with experimenter recording when it was noticed that the subject missed a sound. The results showed that on average the top 50% of musical experience subjects heard more, based on percentage, than the bottom 50% of musical experience subjects. The average for bottom 50% musical experience subjects is a 66%, while the average for the top 50% musical experience subjects is a 77%. The answer to my question was that musical experience does affect musical ability.